Program to provide workforce training for formerly incarcerated

Indianapolis-based not-for-profit Public Advocates in Community Re-Entry, or PACE, is launching a workforce development program for individuals impacted by the criminal justice system in Marion County.

The nine-week Launching Your Career program is designed to help participants learn necessary hard and soft skills in order to receive better employment opportunities.

The program is being funded by a $300,000 grant from the Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative.

Launching Your Career will be implemented in three phases: Job readiness, advancement training, and workplace experience. Participants will receive a stipend throughout the program and the opportunity to earn college credits from Ivy Tech Community College.

PACE Executive Director Rhiannon Edwards said the program will give participants a chance to “truly take advantage of their second chance.”

“The individuals we serve have been outside of the workforce due to incarceration and face countless barriers to high-wage employment opportunities,” Edwards said in written remarks. “Giving this population the opportunity to participate in Launching Your Career will enable them to better compete in the workforce and earn a wage that lifts them out of poverty once and for all.”

The first phase is a two-week job readiness program that will include resume development, mock interviews, job fairs, financial literacy and coaching, moral reconciliation therapy, and more.

After completing phase one, participants will be enrolled in the Catapult Indiana program from Conexus Indiana. The four-week training program focuses on strategies for technical skill development and employability in the advanced manufacturing industry.

Catapult requires 160 hours of combined instructional and hands-on training. Upon completion, participants will spend a week training for their workplace experience, or WEX, after which they will be placed in a two-week WEX with prospective manufacturing employers.

The program is open to Marion County residents age 25 and older with justice system involvement. The first cohort is slated to begin in July.

Those wishing to learn more about the program can contact PACE by clicking here.